


A Voice in the Dark

by artisticgamzee



Category: Rhett & Link
Genre: Cancer, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Love Confessions, M/M, Mute Link, Self-Harm, rhink
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-04
Updated: 2016-04-11
Packaged: 2018-05-04 20:32:45
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 3,360
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5347613
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/artisticgamzee/pseuds/artisticgamzee
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Link faces something he never thought he would have and learns to cope with it, with the help of Rhett. (AU where everything is the same but Rhett and Link are single).</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I do not own Rhett and Link, pretty sure they own themselves. I’m also not going to claim that I know a lot about this subject and the experiences people with it go through; I’ve only dedicated a small portion of my time researching it.  
> The title is a song of the same name by Elvis Costello.

Chapter 1 

No one ever thinks that they’re going to get cancer, until they do. They think that they are immune even though they may have stood by and watched as a friend or relative dealt with the horrific fury of the disease.

Link had never put much thought into it until he heard the possible diagnosis echoing inside of his head.

Laryngeal Cancer.

He had just thought that it was strep throat or something similar that was causing the painful stabbing sensation and noticeable lump in his throat and the hoarseness in his voice. However, the X-ray showing a large (possible) tumor located over his voice box proved otherwise. Even if it wasn’t cancer, it was definitely something frightfully large.

He was in shock, unconsciously drowning out the sounds of the doctor’s medical terminology. How could this be possible?

Link didn’t know that he had said his last thought out loud until the last word stumbled out of his mouth.

“Well, Mr. Neal, we’re not quite sure. About 95% of cases are caused by excessive smoking and/or drinking. You aren’t a smoker or an avid drinker, so this is quite a rare circumstance. Again, we can’t be 100% certain that this is Laryngeal Cancer until we analyze that blood sample that we got from you.”

“You. You mean you don’t even know what caused it, or, what it even is?” He murmured, shaking visibly.

“Not yet, no. We’ll need to do an in-depth analysis of your blood for traces of carcinogen exposure or HPV. Once we get the results we’ll call you to come back in and hopefully we’ll have a confirmed diagnosis, and then discuss your options. For now, I suggest that you take painkillers and drink a lot of warm fluids to ease the pain as much as possible.”

Saying thank you was a weird concept to him in that circumstance; the man had just told him that he had cancer, for crying out loud!

Despite this, he knew it was the polite thing to do while parting with a professional and did so. Surprised that he could still stand, Link left the pristine office into the seemingly endless hallway of the hospital, just wanting to get away.

He didn’t know how he had gotten to the bench on the first floor, phone in hand betraying to leave his shaky, clammy grasp. Dialing the familiar numbers, the man held his breath for the sound of his best friend’s voice.

“Hey, brother! What’s up, how’d the doctor’s go?”

“Um. I uh, I need you to come pick me up, man.” Voice breaking, he tried his hardest to stop himself from crying.

“Of course. Be there in 15.” Rhett said in a concerned tone, hanging up the phone.

Sighing, Link told himself to take deep breaths, shutting his eyes, hoping being in a meditative state would calm his nerves. The next thing he knew, a large pair of arms wrapped around him and the scent of Rhett brought him to his senses.

“What'd the doc’ say?” The tall man whispered.

Shaking, the younger replied, “C-Cancer. Possibly. Gosh, I don’t – I don’t know Rhett.”

The words “I’m here for you Link, through everything.” Was enough for him to break down in Rhett’s arms. Rhett hugged him as hard as he could, shushing him occasionally and letting tears fall at seeing his best friend in pain. After a bit, he wordlessly got up, took Link’s hand and led him home.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If the format is messed up, I sincerely apologize; I published the first chapter on my computer and I'm publishing this one on my phone. Depending on how well this works, the rest will be published via my phone as well.

Chapter 2

The next few days went by as slow as possible for Link. Constantly on the edge of his seat for the phone call, the man was beyond a nervous wreck. Ever since they arrived home, Rhett periodically tended to Link when needed - physically (by forcing him to eat and to drink copious amounts of water and tea) and emotionally (which was reoccurring bouts of assurance). Rhett was a little bit of a wreck himself, seeing his best friend in this state, but he knew he had to be strong, to be there for Link. 

Finally, after the third day of waiting, their home phone began to ring. The older man had forced Link to take a much needed shower, so when it did finally ring, Rhett was the one to pick it up. 

Link staggered out of the bathroom with soggy hair, fogged glasses, and sweats. As soon as he saw Rhett's gaze (or lack thereof) he knew. 

"They called." He hoarsely stated. 

"Yeah. They didn't tell me anything, just to tell you to come in tomorrow afternoon." 

Link sighed and sat down next to Rhett on the couch. 

"Gosh, man. What if-"

"Link, please stop worrying about it. I'm sure it's nothing. I hate seeing you this way, Bo."

"I know. M'sorry Rhett..." 

"Shhh, you should be resting your voice. Com'ere."

Link leaned on his friend and allowed himself to be comforted by Rhett's hands rubbing his back. 

"M'not a child, man." he mumbled, earning a soft chuckle from the other. 

"I know you're not."

There was a long period of silence between them. Neither of them knew how much time had actually passed before Rhett whispered, 

"No matter what happens, brother, I'm here for you. I love you."

"I love you too, Rhett."  

~

Rhett was awoken by a nudge and a soft "Rhett?"

Rolling over, he responded "Hmmm? Wha'sit, buddy?"

"I can't sleep. To freaking worried about tomorrow. I dunno, I would have stayed in bed, but I can't stand my own thoughts right now. Sorry for waking you, I can jus' go back to bed and try to read or somethin'..."

"Naw man, s'all good. Come in, we can talk, I don't mind." he said as he motioned to the other side of the bed.  

"Really?" 

"Yeah, of course!" was followed by a huge yawn. 

Link shuffled into the bed and tucked himself in. 

"What do you wanna talk about?" 

"I dunno, anything but tomorrow I guess."

So they talked for what seemed like hours, Link falling asleep after a while, head nuzzled into the crook of Rhett's neck. 

~  
If Link wasn't a wreck before, he was a wreck now. With Rhett insisting that he would be with him every step of the way, he couldn't help but feel completely unprepared for what was to come. 

The waiting was torture. Before the doctor arrived, a nurse escorted the two men into the office where they were instructed to wait. Shaky fingers picked at skin and cuticles, only ceasing when the other's hand was in his own. 

The silence was broken by the sound of the door opening and the doctor walking in. Rhett felt the absence of Link's hand in his almost immediately. 

The aging man in front of them smiled meekly and shook their hands. 

"Charles, good to see you again. You must be Rhett, correct? I'm Dr. Johnson. I assume that Charles has told you about his condition."

"Yes, Doctor." 

"Hm." he said in acknowledgement, looking over his clipboard and taking a seat. 

"Now, I might as well get right to the point, here. Charles, I hate to say this, but I have bad news for you."

The dark haired man's eyes widened in terror and he subconsciously reached for his best friend's hand again, squeezing as hard as he could. He could feel his wounded throat attempting to close at the idea of everything that could go wrong. 

"We found that the large mass over your larynx was in fact a cancerous tumor." the doctor continued. "It is what we call malignant - it's able to spread cancerous cells to other parts of the body over a certain period of time. However, you have an option to stop the cancer at it's peak by getting the tumor removed." 

A small breath that Link didn't know he was holding escaped his lips, and Rhett clapped him on the back, saying, "Hey, buddy, that's good, it'll be gone."

"What are the side effects of the surgery?" Link finally managed to say. 

"Well. Depending on how much surface area the tumor is covering will affect the amount of tissue removed. There is a small issue, as the tumor is covering about 90% of your voice box - we don't know how much we'll be able to save, but many people have gone through very similar surgeries with the ability to talk soon afterwards, especially with therapy." 

Rhett could see the paranoia in his best friend's eyes. 

"W-what are the chances of losing my voice completely? 'Cause I pretty much talk for a living, and I sing, an-" 

"Don't worry, Mr. Neal, the chances are very low. You should be fine." 

After discussing the details and a surgery date, an anxious Link thanked the doctor and got Rhett and himself out of there. 

Neither spoke until they got to the car. 

"It'll be okay, Link, I'm right here." Rhett whispered to his friend from the driver's seat, grabbing his hand and squeezing. 

"I know." the raspy voice whispered back, swallowing back tears that were desperate to be freed. 


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hope you all have a Happy Holiday!

Chapter 3

"You sure you wanna tell 'em?" 

They had been pondering over the idea of telling the Mythical Beasts about Link's illness for about a week after the official diagnosis. The surgery date was scheduled for about a months time, so they had to have a few weeks worth of content piled up so that they could have some time off for Link's surgery and recovery, even if it was just a few days, or a week. The seriousness of the shorter man's illness made them both nervous; would they worry the fans too much?

A deep, exhausted sigh came from the other side of the desk, where Link had rested his head. 

"Yeah. I'm sure." he announced, lifting his head up to look at Rhett. "They need to know. I mean, they probably noticed already that something's up with my voice and that it's more than a cold."

Rhett nodded in agreement and clapped him on the shoulder. "Okay, buddy, let's do this."

They both took a deep breath in preparation and started the intro to the video, letting their thoughts about the situation be replaced with the thoughts of the task at hand. 

At last, the end of the video arrived and Link moved the wheel into frame and spun it. 

"Click through to Good Mythical More where we get surrrious for a bit and talk about why I'm still sick." he said, adjusting his glasses. The lackluster smile Link had plastered on for the video changed to a serious-but-casual look at this point, hoping that the fans wouldn't notice how upset he really was. 

The blond turned in his seat and craned his neck to read the prompt on the Wheel. "Link accidentally shaves Rhett's head." 

Link cleared his throat and picked up an imaginary razor in his hand. "Hey man, look at this, pretty cool right?" 

"Yeah man," Rhett said, looking over to the invisible object. "You should be careful with that though."

Standing up, Link scoffed and pretended to twirl the razor in his hand. "Nah, dude, it's fi-" He faked a trip and his hand landed in Rhett's hair, and the sitting man started to scream in a hilarious fashion. 

The improv moment ended with laughter throughout the room, and the scene started to calm down again. 

Getting out the last of his chuckles, the shorter man sat down and sighed. "Oh my goodness...Um, welcome to Good Mythical More!"

While Rhett covered the usual sponsorships, Link was reminded of what he had to talk about and grew more silent than usual, zoning out slightly. 

"Link?"

"Hmm? Oh, sorry everyone, must have zoned out a little. That's what usually happens when Rhett talks." he responded, trying to cover his anxiety with humor. 

"Uhh, so at the end of Good Mythical Morning, I said to tune in for something serious. This is something that is affecting both me and Rhett, in the sense that we won't be able to film for a few weeks. We're pre-filming a bunch of episodes now, a lot more than usual, to ensure that y'all will still get to watch, uh, our content until we'll both be able to film again." His faintly shaking hands clasped together. "The reason we decided to bring this up is because, well... I'm still sick, like I said, but y'all deserve to know the extent of it."

"I'm just gonna bring up the fact that, what Link has, it's not terminal or anything, so y'all don't have to worry about that." Rhett interjected. 

"Yeah, it uh, sounds a lot worse than it is. I have what's called Laryngeal Cancer, which is why my voice is all raspy and stuff. Basically, there's a tumor over my voice box, but they're just removing the necessary tissue so that it doesn't spread elsewhere. Everything should be fine afterwards; like Rhett said, it isn't fatal unless it were to go undetected long enough for it to spread. Luckily, we got to it in time and I'll be getting surgery in a few days. I gotta tell you, though, Mythical Beasts; I'm really kinda scared that my voice isn't gonna be the same as it was, but my doctor assured me that the chances are incredibly high that my voice will be okay after surgery and vocal therapy." 

After the long explanation, he took a drink of his tea, letting Rhett take over. 

"In all honesty, Link probably shouldn't have been talking this much, so I'll let him have a break. The reason why I'll also be off is because I'll be helping him with everything after surgery. But we really have to thank y'all for sticking with us this far and, um, hopefully continuing to do so after this." 

"Thank you for being your mythical best, y'all. See you soon." Link grinned and threw up the peace sign while Rhett did the usual social media mention. Soon enough, filming was over. 

After the camera turned off, most of Link's anxiety returned. After the crew left to finish up work after wishing him well, a firm hand on his shoulder made him jump slightly. 

"Hey brother, you okay?" Link nodded in response to the slight squeeze. "You did a good job keepin' yourself together for the beasts. Real proud of you. Everything's gonna be alright."

Link opened his mouth in protest but Rhett interrupted him, lifting his head so that the others' eyes could meet his. "Look at me, Link. Everything will be okay. I promise you that I will always be here for you through this, through everything." 

The shorter man looked down. "Yeah, I know, Rhett. Thank you." 

They embraced in an uncommon but comfortable hug, Link's head buried in the crook of his friend's shoulder. "Of course." the other man replied in a whisper, lips pressed on Link's head. 

The silence of their thoughts went on longer than they had wanted - the thoughts of the surgery and the impending consequences, what would ultimately happen to him - but Link was determined to think of anything but that.

A hand lying on the back of his head brought him brief comfort and Link decided to only think about his best friend in that moment, for sanity's sake. After all, he knew that he would do the same - do anything - if Rhett were in his position.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm SO incredibly sorry for the delay and briefness of this chapter; I don't really have an excuse other than "I had insane writer's block and couldn't for the life of me decide if I wanted to continue this or not." With the amount of people who are enjoying this so far, it wouldn't be fair to keep this whole idea in my head to myself; y'all deserve the rest of the story. I can't promise that every single chapter will be 100% the best of my ability, but I'm trying my hardest for you all! :)

Chapter 4

The day of Link's surgery finally arrived and the man's anxiety was at its maximum. Rhett couldn't help but to also be nervous for his best friend; he hardly had any idea what to expect. The only thing he knew was that he was going to be there for Link, for the surgery and for everything else that came after. 

The ride to the hospital was silent, but relatively quicker than usual as they had to be there quite early in the morning and there were very few cars on the road. The shorter man would occasionally complain about his empty stomach to fill the silence, but the atmosphere was still tense. 

For Rhett, the hardest part of the drive was paying attention to the road - the sleepless night had really gotten to him. The fact that all he wanted to do was reach over and never let go of Link, to never keep his eyes off of him did not help in the slightest. They made it though, after what seemed like too long of a drive. 

After checking in, Link had to wait to get prepped for surgery. Even though the older man was trying to keep things positive, Link could only nod along and pick at his cuticles; a nervous habit that he'd had for a long time. Rhett noticed and was about to grab his hands when the nurses came out and took Link to get ready. 

~

After waiting a while, Rhett finally saw Link as they wheeled him out on a bed, dawning a hospital gown. 

"Link!" the tall man said as he jumped out of his seat. 

"It's okay, man, I'm good, they're just taking me to surgery now." 

"I know, buddy. Just wanted to wish you luck, I guess."

Suddenly Link grabbed Rhett's hand and murmured "Just wanted to say that I love you, Rhett. I dunno."

The taller man could see a tear of anxiety attempting to escape from his friend's eyes and wiped it away, whispering "Shhhh, I know. It's okay man, everything's gonna turn out fine. I love you too, okay?" The sick man squeezed his hand in agreement and nodded, and then he was wheeled away. 

Sighing, Rhett sat back down on one of the uncomfortable hospital chairs. All he could do now was wait. 

~

Link awoke to the beeping of monitors and the bright white of the hospital walls. He could feel a tube down his throat, but tried to ignore the uncomfortable feeling by rubbing his eyes in drowsiness. 

He looked to his right and saw a blurred mass - a person?- sitting in one of the hospital chairs right beside the bed. 

His heart leaped - the only person it could be was Rhett. 

As if on cue, the older man slowly drifted to consciousness and noticed that Link was awake. 

"Hey buddy," he smiled, giving the other man his glasses. "How ya feeling?" 

All Link could manage was a mumbled "Mmmmm." Sighing at the lack of vocal ability, he held his hand out for Rhett to hold. The man did so and squeezed in response. 

~

A few weeks later, Link was free to go home. While he hadn't yet regained his speech, medically, he was all clear. Vocal therapy on a daily basis was a must, and the man was nothing short of impatient. 

Even with Rhett's help practicing, he couldn't get the hang of talking again, and practically no progress was made.  
This frustrated Link even more so, and he refused to film another episode of GMM until he could talk at least a little bit. 

Of course, he wanted to continue the show, but what kind of show would that be if he couldn't even talk?

About a month or so after Link's surgery, Rhett had started hinting to him that they'd better get to filming more episodes, and with much insistence, Link had finally agreed. 

So that's what brought him back to the set, whiteboard and marker in hand. A firm, familiar hand on his shoulder encouraged him forward, and he sighed deeply. 'The show must go on.' he thought.


	5. Author's Note

Hello everyone. I know you've been waiting for ages upon ages for an update, and I have to apologize. I have been un a huge reading and writing slump as of late, and I don't think I'm going to continue writing this fic. I'm simply not as interested in Rhink as much anymore. Please forgive me as I know a few people really did enjoy this series; I just can't put my heart into it anymore. Please stick around though; this bump in the road isn't the end of my writing career. Thank you all for giving kudos and enjoying this while it lasted.


End file.
